Jim Dent, legendary PGA golfer, dead at 85

Jim Dent grew up in the caddie yards of Augusta, Georgia, eventually working at the Masters and honing his game at the municipal course known as “The Patch.” He went on to become one of the PGA Tour’s longest hitters and one of the top black golfers of his generation.Dent died on Friday at age 85, a week before his birthday, his grandson posted on Facebook.The PGA Tour said on its website that Dent suffered a stroke the day after Augusta National announced plans for Tiger Woods to design a par 3 course at The Patch.“What I learned about playing golf has probably kept me all through life,” Dent told the USGA for a story in 2012.

“You had to be honest.You had to work at it.

You just couldn’t pick up today and not come back ‘til next week.And if you broke a rule, you had to turn yourself in.”Dent worked hard enough on his game that he entered a few United Golfers Association tournaments, a league devote to black players, moved to California and took lessons from former U.S.

Open champion Johnny Goodman.He finally earned his PGA Tour card through qualifying school in 1970, and while he never won on tour, he kept a full schedule of at least 22 tournaments for the next 16 years.His best result was in the 1972 Walt Disney World Open Invitational, when he trailed Jack Nicklaus by two shots going into the final round.

Nicklaus shot 64 and won by nine.Dent won the Michelob-Chattanooga Gold Cup Classic in 1983, a Tournament Players Series event for players who were not fully exempt — the tour had gone to the all-exempt tour that year instead of the majority of the field going through Monday qualifying.Dent never met any of the qualifying criteria to play in the Masters, but he made the cut in eight of the 11 majors he played — six at the PGA Championship, five at the U.S.Open.He was best known for his prodigious length, and Dent won the inaugural World Long Drive Championship in 1974.After turning 50, he won 12 times on the PGA Tour Champions.

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